System and method for interactively delivering expert information to remote outlets

ABSTRACT

A networked interactive expert system is disclosed for selectively providing relevant expertise when a user requires such assistance. System provides a set of networked facilities for determining an expertise needed by a customer based on a location. Such location can be either physical or logical. A physical “location” corresponds, for example, to a department within a retail outlet. Examples of logical “locations” are ones corresponding to a web-page, a product identification code of interest, a customer identification code, and/or explicit knowledge category selected by the customer. An expert studio, from a list of expert studios providing expertise corresponding to the identified location associated with the customer&#39;s request, is matched up with the request. Thereafter, a primary connection, supporting an interactive videoconference session, is established between a first networked node associated with the customer and a second networked node associated with the designated expert studio.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Sang U.S. provisional applicationSer. No. 60/637,200 filed on Dec. 17, 2004, entitled “System and Methodfor Interactively Delivering Expert Information to Remote Outlets,” thecontents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety including the contents and teachings of any referencescontained therein.

AREA OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the areas of networkedsystems capable of providing live audio/video/data services to multipleremote locations, and more particularly to applications of such systemsto provide live interactive expert advice/counseling/customer servicevia audio/video/data communications media to customers (recipients ofexpert information/guidance) present at potentially many distinctphysical locations. Potential subject-matter areas incorporating suchtechnology include, for example, retail outlets, automated tellermachines, self check-in machines for airlines and hotels, e-commerceterminals, health care/clinics, manufacturing sites or any otherprofessional or commercial operations. The information/guidance providedvia such systems relates, for example, to products, services orprocesses.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Retail sales establishments have changed to reflect customers' enhancedawareness of prices offered for similar goods by competing retailestablishments. Within the retail industry, during the past threedecades, discount, warehouse and mass-merchandiser formats have steadilygrown at the expense of high service retailers. These formats, adoptedby companies such as, for example, Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco nowdominate many retail categories. Low price, self-service retail businessformats share a common characteristic—their focus on low prices has ledto minimizing the money spent on store personnel, thus reducing thenumber, caliber and knowledge level of people staffing the stores. Evenlarge specialty retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Walgreen's,Petsmart and Home Depot cannot consistently deliver the in-depth productexpertise that customers find desirable and often need on a retail salesfloor.

To compete with the prices offered by warehouse retailers, mostretailers have abandoned/shed the role/responsibility of being aconsumer's agent or advisor. Instead, many retailers today areeffectively retail floor space real estate operators, stocking theirshelves with whatever goods their suppliers and/or manufacturers produceand market. Under such arrangements, sales associates are no longerexperts in the goods sold by the retailer, and the retailers provideminimal product expertise or guidance on the sales floor.

The absence of experienced sales associates harms consumer satisfactionwith retailers. The overall trend of eliminating access to experiencedsales associates is probably not a significant problem for consumerswith regard to products that do not require expertise when making apurchase decision, but for many categories of products such as consumerelectronics, appliances, home improvement products and personal careproducts the average consumer is often frustrated by the absence ofqualified personnel on sales floors to help the consumer make informedpurchase decisions. The result has been lost sales opportunities anderoding customer loyalty for retailers, and consumers spending asignificant amount of time researching products or making poorlyinformed purchase decisions.

Providing truly expert, not rudimentary, product knowledge throughone-on-one interaction with customers at multiple departments acrosshundreds or even thousands of store locations is extremely expensive.Such costs, by necessity, are passed by retailers to their customers.Mass marketers' business models depend on keeping their prices lowerthan rivals' prices. Thus, delivering expertise on the sales floorthrough one-on-one human interaction, without significantly adding tooperating costs, can create a significant competitive advantage forretailers.

Airlines and hotels have also sought to reduce customer service costs.Self-service kiosks that enable customers to check-in and checkout havegained broad acceptance in the airline and hotel industries. However,when a customer has an issue or a question, the customer must seek out alive customer service representative to assist them. Often such arepresentative is not available, or they are engaged in helping othercustomers. Airlines and hotels must, in turn, maintain a greater levelof on-site staffing than they would otherwise require and contend withfrequent peaks and valleys in the level of customer demand for livehuman assistance that self-service kiosks do not provide. A result ofattempts to staff live, on-site, customer assistance desks is excessivestaffing at certain times and under-staffing at other times—the exactproblem (understaffing) that self-service kiosks were meant to alleviatein the first place.

Yet another area of retail sales that is potentially affected by ashortfall in expertise with regard to a particular product offered forsale is electronic commerce. In electronic commerce, real-time onlineinteraction with customer service or technical support agents throughsuch vehicles as “live chat” is potentially an important service tocustomers. However, generally there is no effective way for anelectronic commerce retail sales service provider to anticipate thetypes of questions of any particular customer. The customer is directedto a common pool of customer service agents rather than to a particularagent or agent pool most qualified to address the customer's needs. Inthis environment, customers are dissatisfied with the support providedby service agents because the agents to which the customer enquiries aredirected often lack the specific expertise or knowledge required toaddress the customer's inquiry. One solution presently used to select anappropriate stable of customer service personnel is to require a user totraverse a touchtone-based decision tree before seeking to direct acaller's inquiry to a particular stable of customer service personnel.

Expert advice in health services and products is generally restricted todoctors' offices and clinics. Health care is an industry where productknowledge for medications (both prescription and over-the-counter) andthe knowledge to operate medical equipment or devices are critical indelivering safe and effective products and services. This is an everincreasing challenge because the number and types of medications andmedical equipment and devices are proliferating throughout the industry.However, pressure to contain rising health care costs limits staffingand training in this very important area. Having the full breadth anddepth of expertise at every location, as well as during all hours, wherehealth care products are sold or services are rendered (e.g., eachdepartment within a hospital, physician offices, drug stores, etc.) isgenerally impractical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a networked system (and related methods)for selectively providing relevant expertise when a user requires suchassistance. Such networked system is potentially highly beneficial toboth consumers and providers within a wide variety of areas involvingretail sales of goods and services.

The present invention provides a set of networked facilities fordetermining an expertise needed by a customer based on a location. Suchlocation can be either physical or logical. A physical “location”corresponds, for example, to a department within a retail outlet.Examples of logical “locations” are ones corresponding to a web-page, aproduct identification code of interest, a customer identification code,and/or explicit knowledge category selected by the customer. An expertstudio, from a list of expert studios providing expertise correspondingto the identified location associated with the customer's request, ismatched up with the request. Thereafter, a primary connection isestablished between a first networked node associated with the customerand a second networked node associated with the designated expertstudio.

Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, anon-demand content sharing facility is incorporated whereby content isprovided to the first networked node on-demand via a secondaryconnection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the claims set forth the features of the present invention withparticularity, the invention, together with its objects and advantages,may be best understood from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing depicting a system embodying the presentinvention in the form of multiple outlets communicatively linked to anexpert center for serving the outlets;

FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing depicting an alternative embodiment of theinvention wherein multiple outlets are communicatively linked tomultiple expert centers;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting the general flow of decision-making andactions in carrying out a method for providing expert assistance thatembodies the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an exemplary set of steps associatedwith displaying shared content at an interactive expert station whereincontent is downloaded via a separate on-demand connection; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing depicting an exemplary networkimplementation of an interactive expert system including multiplelocales housing expert studios.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Before referring to specific drawings, it is generally noted thatembodiments of the invention are described herein as “interactive expertsystems.” Particular embodiments of interactive expert systemsincorporating the present invention provide expert guidance/knowledgefor consumers at retail sales outlets. Other embodiments provide expertguidance/knowledge in a variety of customer service settings including:airports, hotels, banks and health care. In yet other embodiments, suchas an e-commerce context, the customer's logical location on theInternet (e.g., a web site, page or area within a web page selected by auser) is used to proactively determine the customer's area of interestand make available specific expertise that corresponds to the area ofinterest.

Turning to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of the interactive expertsystem is schematically depicted that includes a set of networkedcomponents. A retail outlet 100 (one of potentially many outlets in theinteractive expert system) includes a set of interactive expert stations101 a-n. The retail outlet 100 is segmented by categories of products orservices, also referred to herein as “departments.” Such departmentsare, for example, camera, television, appliance, stereo sections of anelectronics/appliance store. One or more of the interactive expertstations 101 a-n are provided for supported categories. The interactiveexpert stations 101 a-n provide access to expert knowledge/guidance onan on-demand interactive basis for the supported categoriescorresponding to products and services in a particular department of theretail outlet 100.

In general, the interactive expert stations 101 a-n are placed withinthe retail outlet 100 to provide access to expert information/guidancefor assisting customers with corresponding products and/or servicesprovided at the particular locations. More particularly, the interactiveexpert stations 101 a-n (e.g., kiosks) are placed at various locationswithin the retail outlet 100. Each interactive expert station isassociated with a class/category of expertise/knowledge corresponding toan area of expertise required by customers at a particular locationcontaining the particular interactive expert station. The variouslocations of the interactive expert stations 101 a-n correspond, forexample, to departments of the retail outlet, particular products, aparticular supplier, etc. In an exemplary embodiment, each interactiveexpert station is assigned a unique identification, and the stationidentification is registered in a location map (e.g., logical,geographic, etc.) that ties the interactive expert station to a location(and thus a particular type of expertise needed for requests from theparticular interactive expert station).

Once a particular location is selected for one of the interactive expertstations of the set of stations 101 a-n, a category of expertise can beassigned to the interactive expert station. Creating station-specificassociations between each of the interactive expert stations andcategories of expertise facilitates automating selection of a particularremote expert studio to meet expertise needs associated with eachparticular interactive expert station. Establishing such associationsand thereafter using the associations to establish an interactivesession between a user/customer at a particular interactive expertstation and one of a set of experts uniquely capable of providing aparticular type of expert information/guidance is described furtherherein below.

Each of the interactive expert stations 101 a-n includes a number ofcommunications and input-output (I/O) devices. For example, while notspecifically identified in FIG. 1, each interactive expert stationincludes an audio/video conferencing system including a video display,speakers, video camera, and microphone that support a full-duplex ANVsession (videoconference) between a customer and an expert. Additionalsoftware and communications drivers on the interactive expert stationsenable the retrieval and presentation of content on the interactiveexpert stations at the direction/discretion of experts providingguidance to customers using the interactive expert stations. A singlephysical interface supports both the videoconference and content sharingfunctionality—though each is, by way of example, supported by one ormore separate network connections and/or sessions.

The interactive expert stations 101 a-n include a variety ofuser-manipulated I/O components. By way of example, the interactiveexpert stations 101 a-n include a barcode scanner enabling customers toscan a product's UPC barcode to indicate a particular product for whichexpert information/guidance is requested. The interactive expertstations 101 a-n also potentially include a magnetic stripe or barcodecard scanner enabling identification of a customer desiring interactiveexpert assistance by swiping, for example, a loyalty card distributed bythe particular retail organization. A customer profile/class associatedwith the customer ID encoded on the swiped card is potentially used todetermine the type of expert assigned to the customer. Each interactiveexpert station is also optionally equipped with a keyboard andmechanical buttons/switches. Yet other potential I/O mechanismsincorporated into the interactive expert stations are touch screens forenabling customers to select from a list of expertise categoriessupported by particular interactive expert stations.

Having described physical components of the interactive expert stations101 a-n, attention is now directed to software components within theinteractive expert stations and their associated functionalcapabilities. Each of the interactive expert stations 101 a-n includessoftware components for maintaining/managing: (a) an interactionprompter including a multimedia attract loop informing customers of theavailability of expert advice via an interactive expert videoconferencesession supported by the station, (b) interactions between customers,applications/modules installed on the stations 101 a-n, includingsoftware for custom videoconferencing components or a third-partyvideoconference system, and devices to control the interactive expertstations 101 a-n, (c) interactions with an expert server 102—such asrequesting an available expert with the expertise associated with thestation's current location (physical and/or logical), (d) integrationwith custom videconferencing components or a third-party videoconferencesystem running and operating in association with an interactive expertstation, (e) configuration and communication to the expert server 102 ofan ID for the interactive expert station, and (f) the download andapplication of content and system updates to the interactive expertstations.

With regard to the aforementioned interaction prompter, a multimediaattract loop generates for display, by way of example, content thatprompts customers to commence a session with an interactive expert forone-on-one guidance on products or services available at a customer'slocation. The attract loop is broken, for example, when a motion sensoror voice/speech recognition module/component senses the presence of acustomer that potentially desires initiating an interactive session withan expert. A customer responds to the attract loop by requesting anexpert using one of several potential methods/interfaces, including, forexample: a touch screen, voice/speech recognition modules, motionsensors, discrete buttons, keyboards, barcode scanners, and magneticstrip or barcoded card readers. Customers can also be presented a set ofexperts from which to select (using one of the available I/O componentsmentioned, by way of example, above) based on the customers' personalneeds/preferences, such as type of language proficiency, gender,psychographic profile, etc.

The expert server 102 facilitates/manages establishing sessions betweencustomers at retail outlets and desired experts located in remotestudios. The expert server 102 is, by way of example, a centrally(communicatively, logically) positioned software facility that serves asan administrative data and expert services session management hub of theinteractive expert system. As explained further herein below, the expertserver 102 also operates as a repository/provider of content selectivelyprovided to and presented by interactive expert stations 101 a-n. It isnoted that the expert server 102, while shown as a single logicalcomponent in the schematic drawing in FIG. 1, potentially comprisesmultiple physical computing nodes coupled to a network (or networks). Itis further noted that the expert server 102, in embodiments of thepresent invention, serves multiple retail outlet instances of the typerepresented schematically by the retail outlet 100.

The expert server 102 facilitates establishing a videoconference sessionbetween a customer (at one of the interactive expert stations 101 a-n)desiring a particular category of expert advice and an appropriateprovider of expert information/guidance (within one of a set of expertstudios 106 a-x associated with an expert center 104). In support ofthis function, the expert server 102, by way of example, maintains datacomprising (1) a listing of expertise needed at each of a set ofidentified locations containing one or more of the interactive expertstations 101 a-n, and (2) a listing of available experts and theirassociated areas/categories/classes. The expert server 102 initiallyreceives a request, from one of the interactive expert stations 101 a-nof the retail outlet 100 via customer administrative connections 103,for expert information/guidance from the expert center 104 (describedherein below) comprising a set of expert studios 106 a-x that play hostto a set of live human experts. The expert server 102 consults thelistings of expertise needed by a requesting expert station and expertinformation/guidance provided by available experts at the expert center104 to initiate, via messages passed on expert administrativeconnections 105 and/or customer administrative connections 103, apairing between the requesting station and an appropriate expert. Inexemplary embodiments of the invention, videoconference connections 107supporting the interactive videoconference sessions between the expertstations 101 a-n and designated ones of the expert studios 106 a-x aredirect—i.e., the videoconference data streams do not pass through theexpert server 102. The above-described manner of selecting anappropriate expert selection and initiating customer/expert sessionsavoids a potential communications bottleneck at the expert server 102.Components of the expert server 102 that facilitate the aforementionedfunctionality are described further herein below.

The expert server 102 includes an expert station location map 10 thatcomprises tables and/or any other suitable data structures formaintaining a registry of information, for each registered location inthe interactive expert system, comprising, for example: (a) a locationdescription/identification (e.g., a retail outlet address and, ifapplicable, a specific department within a particular retail outlet),(b) expertise type(s) potentially required for the location so that thetype of expertise needed by a station can be anticipated/inferred whenthe expert server 102 receives a request from a particular location, and(c) an identification of each interactive expert station assigned to thelocation. It is noted that location entries within the location map 110can be defined narrowly or broadly and can be associated with a categoryof products, services or other forms of knowledge or content. Inaccordance with a preferred embodiment, the scope of each categorycorresponds, by way of example, to the scope of expertisesupported/provided by a specific expert or group of experts.

The interactive expert station identification information under (c) isused, by way of example, to formulate a list of all interactive expertstations in the system and their corresponding locations. Thestation/location list is used by the expert server 102 to match anincoming request from a particular station to a location entry in theexpert station location map 110 defining an expertise needed for theparticular station/location. Thus, when an interactive expert station isrelocated, its associated location is updated in the map 110 to ensureproper selection of an expert.

The expert server 102 includes a location and expertise router 112 thatis responsible for selecting an available expert/studio in response to acustomer's request for expert assistance. The location and expertiserouter 112 communicates with each of the interactive expert stations 101a-n either directly or through a local communications servercomputer/node through which the interactive expert stations 101 a-n, ofthe retail outlet 100, communicate with the expert server 102.

In response to receiving a request for assistance from an identifiedinteractive expert station at a particular outlet (or location within anoutlet), the location and expertise router 112 applies the stationidentification and current location to the expert station location map110 to determine a category of expertise required to provide assistanceto a customer via the identified interactive expert station. Thus, theexpert server 102, using the location and expertise router 112, infers acustomer's information/guidance needs based upon the requestinginteractive expert station's location. The location and expertise router112 then issues a request for a particular category of expert to anexpert queuing and matching component 114 (described below) of theexpert server 102 to facilitate establishing a consultationconnection/session with that the requesting customer. In addition to aparticular class/category of expert, the request submitted by the router112 to the matching component 114 potentially includes additionalproperties (user knowledge level, preferred language, etc.) that areutilized by the matching component 114 to provide a more particularlytailored expert/studio selection to fulfill the received request forexpert information/guidance.

The location assigned to a requesting interactive expert station can beeither physical or logical. The illustrative example, based upon aretail outlet store model, utilizes physical locations (e.g., distinctstore departments) to determine a category of expertise needed tofulfill a customer's requests. However, for an e-commerce embodiment ofthe present invention, a customer's “location” is logical in nature anddetermined by, for example, a web-site, web-page or the specific areawithin a web-page the customer selects with click-through. Yet otherexamples of logical “locations” are ones corresponding to a productidentification code of interest (rendered, for example, by a barcodescanner), a customer identification code (provided for example by auser/customer ID), and/or an explicit knowledge category selected by thecustomer.

Similarly, interactive expert stations can be either a physical orlogical entity. Thus, a single physically networked node through which acustomer requests interactive expert information/guidance may itselfsupport multiple logical interactive network stations based upon acurrent mode of operation selected by a current user (e.g., a particularweb page selected, or expertise choice selected from a list of choicespresented by an attract loop operated by the networked node).

The expert queuing and matching component 114 of the expert server 102is generally responsible for managing queues of availableexperts/studios associated with each of the available categories ofexpert information/guidance supported by the interactive expert system.In general, when a particular expert studio is selected to commence aninteractive session with a requesting expert station, the expert studiois removed to the set of available experts/studios. When the sessioncompletes, the expert/studio is returned to the set of “available”expert/studio resources.

By way of example, and not limitation, the expert queuing and matchingcomponent 114 maintains a listing (using any one of a variety of datastructures such as tables, queues, linked lists, etc.) of eachregistered expert/studio. The listing includes, for each registeredexpert/studio, an identification of a category of expertise and thecurrent status (e.g., current availability) of the expert/studio.Examples of potential detailed statuses of expert studios include:interacting with customer, available for interaction, waiting in queue,staffed—not available, and not staffed. This system also changes thestatus of experts from one status to another, determines theexperts/studios to be placed in the “available for interaction” statebased on utilization patterns, and configures availability statusparameters to ensure that a sufficient number of experts are availablefor interaction with requesting customers in each supportedcategory/area of expertise.

The expert queuing and matching component 114 also maintains, by way ofexample, an association between each registered expert and one of theset of expert studios 106 a-x in the expert center 104 to which eachregistered expert has been assigned. By way of example, the currentstudio assignment is maintained as a field/property within a queuedregistered expert record/object. The expert queuing and matchingcomponent 114 also manages the order/priority of each set of expertsassigned to each category of available expertise that are available forrequested interactive expert session requests.

The expert queuing and matching component 114, in response to receivinga request from the expertise router 112, matches the request with anappropriate one of the presently registered experts. In particular, theexpert queuing and matching component 114 determines the availability ofan expert corresponding to a category of expertise (determined by the“location” of the customer request's physical/logical origin) associatedwith the request. In an illustrative example, available experts arearranged in category-specific queues. If one or more experts areavailable in an appropriate queue, then one of the available experts isremoved from the appropriate expert queue.

In an illustrative embodiment, after the expert queuing and matchingcomponent 114 determines the appropriate expert assignment, the matchingcomponent 114 initiates transmitting a notification to the requestingone of the set of interactive expert stations 101 a-n. The notificationto the requesting one of the stations 101 a-n includes a networklocation/address and/or name of one of the expert studios 106 a-x thatcontains the selected responsive expert. By way of example, thenotification includes a universal resource identifier (URI) or universalresource locator (URL) that is thereafter used by the receiving one ofthe interactive expert stations 101 a-n to initiate establishing anexpert videoconference session/connection, using custom videoconferencecomponents or third party videoconference software, with the designatedexpert studio in the expert center 102.

It is noted that the expert queuing and matching component 1 14incorporates a variety of methodologies for managing a set of expertsbased upon their expertise. The above illustrative example generallymaintains lists of experts (in the form of category-specific queues) andtheir corresponding expertise category. However, more elaboratemaintenance schemes are employed in alternative embodiments of theinvention wherein each expert is associated with a set of definingproperties that (1) facilitate tailoring expert selection based upon anexpanded set of customer characteristics/needs, and (2) enable a singleexpert to provide expertise for multiple categories. A table in arelational database is constructed that includes a prioritized,system-wide set of expert records. With regard to experts and theirdesignations to various categories and studio assignments, experts arepotentially defined in their associated records according to specificproducts or services for which their expertise is provided—possiblycovering multiple categories. Furthermore, the expertgroups/qualifications are potentially further refined according to a setof properties including proficiency in various languages, gender,psychographic profile, etc.

When a request for a particular expert is received, the matchingcomponent 114 traverses the table of expert records, from highest tolowest priorities, to identify a highest priority available expert thatmatches a request from one of the stations 101 a-n for expert assistance(including potentially multiple properties to be matched). Theabove-described data structures and functions associated with the expertqueuing and matching component are illustrative. The content of theexpert descriptions, the data structures containing the descriptions,and the manner of designating one of multiple available experts basedupon a received request from one of the stations 101 a-n vary inaccordance with alternative embodiments of the invention.

The expert server 102 also includes a content data storage 116. Thecontent data storage 116 maintains a variety of multi-media files thatsupport the interactive sessions between the stations 101 a-n and thestudios 106 a-x. For example, during a session, an expert may suggest aparticular document, available as a PDF file, providing instructions onhow to utilize a particular tool or product. The customer at aninteractive expert station selects a provided interface control (e.g.,an icon) to retrieve the document from the storage 116 and print thedocument on an attached printer at the interactive expert station.Alternatively, the customer does not need to activate a control toretrieve and view the content. Rather, the interactive expert stationautomatically requests the content from the storage 116 upon receipt ofthe shared content message from the expert studio. In other instances, ashort video clip is downloaded from the storage 116 for viewing on thecustomer's station. In an embodiment of the invention, downloadedcontent is maintained (i.e., cached) at the receiving interactive expertstation to reduce the need to download such content from the expertserver 102 at some time in the future for subsequent presentations ofthe shared content to other customers. Such downloading of content isdescribed further herein below.

The expert center 104 is a physical/logical structure that houses theset of expert studios 106 a-x through which experts, having particularproperties/expertise and assigned to particular ones of the studios 106a-x, supply their expertise. Expert advice is delivered from the studios106 a-x on a live, interactive basis to requesting customers at remotelocations such as the retail outlet 100. The expert center 104 ispotentially operated by an entity that is the same as (or affiliatedwith) a corporate entity that owns/operates the outlets, a third partycontracted to perform such services, or individual manufacturers as ameans of providing expertise for their products to the end customer onthe sales floor. The studios 106 a-x are located, for example, in asingle building that is sub-divided into a set of individual studios.Alternatively, the studios 106 a-x are distributed across a variety ofremote locales (e.g., home offices). In yet other embodiments the expertstudios 106 a-x are located in the retail outlet 100 (in a backroom orother restricted area). On-duty experts are assigned to specific ones ofthe studios 106 a-x within the expert center 104. The studio assignmentinformation is registered in the available expert records maintained bythe expert queuing and matching component 114.

By way of example, the expert studios 106 a-x comprise workstationsassociated with the expert center 104. Each expert studio includes, byway of example, software components that are executed at the expertstudio to manage: (1) availability status of the expert studio forselection by the expert queuing and matching component 114, and (2)communicating with the expert server 102 to provide information relatingto incoming calls such as store or outlet ID and address, interactiveexpert station ID, outlet local time, etc. The expert studios 106 a-xare similar to the interactive expert stations 106 a-n at the retailoutlet 100. Each of the expert studios 106 a-x includes, for example,electronic audio/video systems (similar to the equipment at the stations101 a-n) used to videoconference with customers. However, each expertstudio potentially includes additional equipment (e.g., monitors andinterface controllers) and functional capabilities, such as applicationprograms/systems for: (1) checking inventory availability and pricingfor a specific item at the retail outlet 100 associated with aninteractive expert station engaged in a videoconference, (2) viewing acustomer's purchase history, (3) placing a product/shipping order fordirect shipment of a product to a customer's address, and (4) retrievingand sharing additional information or images for products and servicesfrom a database (e.g., content storage 116). With regard to the lastfeature, the expert studio potentially invokes sharing content stored onthe content storage 116 with a customer or alternatively provides livewhiteboard demonstrations. Such additional information is provided, forexample, by specific-purpose videoconference components, third-partyvideoconferencing software and/or third-party whiteboard/content sharinghardware/software components.

In an illustrative embodiment, the expert studios 106 a-x alsofacilitate simulating a specific department environment for an outletreferred to as a “mirrored environment.” For retail applications, eachof the expert studios 106 a-x potentially simulates/mirrors anenvironment of a specific department for certain outlets. Each expertstudio 106 a-x potentially includes store fixtures, lighting, signageand product placements, and an expert assigned to the studio ispotentially dressed in the uniform worn by employees at the retailoutlet 100 at which the customer is located. The effect is to create ahighly approachable, “in store” interactive experience for customers—asif the expert were physically present on the sales floor.

The interactive expert system embodying the present invention lendsitself to a variety of network topographies that exploit high bandwidthnetwork connections to support multi-media videoconference sessionsbetween customers at interactive expert stations and remotely connectedexperts/studios. Turning briefly to FIG. 2, an illustrative alternativearrangement to the arrangement depicted in FIG. 1 is schematicallydepicted wherein the expert center 104 functionality is carried out byclusters of studios located at physically distinct expert centerlocales. The grouping of experts/studios at the distinct locales isestablished, for example, along classes of products (e.g., cameras,televisions) or services. In accordance with the illustratively depictedalternative embodiment depicted in FIG. 2, a first expert center 204 acomprises a set of expert studios/experts 206 a that provide expertinformation/guidance services for a first category/class (e.g., cameras)associated with the retail outlet 100. A second expert center 204 bcomprises a set of expert studios/experts 206 b that provide expertinformation/guidance services for a second category/class (e.g.,televisions) associated with the retail outlet 100. Connections 205 aand 205 b between the expert server 102 and the first expert center 204a and the second expert center 204 b correspond to the connections 105in FIG. 1. Connections 207 a and 207 b between the expert centers 204 aand 204 b and the interactive expert stations 101 a and 101 b correspondto the connections 107 in FIG. 1.

The various ways in which expert studios are arranged in a variety oflocales is virtually limitless. In yet other embodiments, the groupingof experts/studios is based upon manufacturer. In that case, theinteractive expert system facilitates manufacturers providinginteractive support for their products or services directly to endcustomers at the outlet locations instead of relying upon the retailoutlet manager to provide adequate training to sales associates at theretail outlet 100. In a highly decentralized expert support operation,the expert center functionality is embodied in a set of registered homeoffices for a set of expert studios. An appropriate mapping mechanism ismaintained by the expert server 102 to support matching requests forassistance by customers via the expert stations 101 a-n to appropriateremotely located expert studios/home offices.

Turning to FIG. 3, a flowchart summarizes a sequence of steps carriedout by the expert system illustratively depicted in FIG. 1. Step 300corresponds to an attract mode of operation of one of the interactiveexpert stations 101 a-n wherein a video loop is played on a repeatedbasis until interrupted by a customer at step 310. Detecting a customerthat may need/request help via the interactive expert system can occurin any of a variety of ways including, for example: (1) a motion sensor,(2) a voice/sound detector, and (3) switch activation (e.g., a userselects a start button displayed upon a touch screen interface). Uponactivation, the activated one of the interactive expert stations 101a-n, during step 310, sends a request via one of the connections 103 tothe expert server 102. The request includes an identification of theparticular interactive expert station as well as potentially additionalcustomer-provided properties enabling further tailoring of expert/studioselection by the expert server 102.

At step 320 the expert server 102 receives the request from theactivated interactive expert station and determines an appropriateexpert/studio for fulfilling the request for commencing an interactiveexpert session. Initially, location and expertise router 112 of theexpert server 102 consults the expert station location map 110 todetermine the category of expert information/guidance with which therequesting interactive expert station is associated. Also during step320 the expertise router 112 determines an appropriate expert/studiotype in view of the identified category. The location and expertiserouter 112 then issues a request for a particular category of expert tothe expert queuing and matching component 114 of the expert server 102to facilitate establishing a consultation connection/session with thatthe requesting customer. In addition to a particular class/category ofexpert, the request submitted by the router 112 to the matchingcomponent 114 potentially includes additional properties (user knowledgelevel, preferred language, etc.) that are utilized by the matchingcomponent 114 to provide a more particularly tailored expert/studioselection to fulfill the received request for expertinformation/guidance.

Thereafter, at step 330 the expert queuing and matching component 114consults its listings of expert/studio resources to determine theavailability of an expert/studio matching the needs of request. Inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment, available experts/studiosare placed in category-specific queues corresponding to the types ofcategories identified within the location map 11. However, inalternative embodiments, the breadth of the categories for the expertqueues can differ considerably from the categories of stationsidentified in the location map 110. Such categories can combine stationlocation-based categories to render broader categories. In otherinstances, a location-based category can be sub-divided based upon anumber of factors, including, by way of example, the reasonable expectedbreadth of knowledge of the experts within a given category. Therefore,the expert queue categories need not correspond to the “location” (e.g.,retail outlet department) identified for a particular interactive expertstation in the location map 110.

With continued reference to step 330, if at least one such expert/studiois available in a queue corresponding to the type of expert specified byan expert request submitted by the router 112 to the expert queuing andmatching component 114 (corresponding to the category of the expertrequest forwarded during step 310 the expert server 102 and potentiallyadditional request properties), then control passes to step 340. At step340, the matching component 114 removes an available expert/studio fromthe corresponding expert queue and pairs it with the expert request. Ifhowever, an expert/studio of the desired category/type is not available(i.e., there is a queue of stations currently waiting for the particulartype of expert, the corresponding expert queue is currently empty,etc.), then control passes to step 350 wherein the request is placed ina queue of delayed expert requests associated with the currently emptycorresponding expert queue. When a previously queued expert requestreaches the head of the queue (and the original requestor has notabandoned the request) and a corresponding expert/studio becomesavailable, then control passes to step 340.

After matching a request to an available expert/studio, control passesto step 355 wherein the expert server 102 issues a notification to therequesting interactive expert station that identifies an expert/studioto which the expert station should establish a connection (representedby connections 107 in FIG. 1) supporting an interactive expertvideoconference session between the expert station and the expertstudio. The expert queuing and matching component 114 marks the statusof the identified expert/studio as “busy.” Alternatively, the expertstudio receives the expert station's identification information and thesession/connection is initiated by the expert studio.

Thereafter, during step 360 a videoconference session is carried out bythe matched requesting interactive expert station at the retail outlet100 and the expert/studio at the expert center 104. During the session,the expert utilizes a variety of resources, including database resourcesto perform a variety of tasks including, for example: accessing storeinventory/pricing information, accepting/submitting customer orders fordirect shipment, and determining the customer's request and currentlocation. In addition, the expert is able to access any of a variety ofmultimedia content stored in the content store 116 of the expert server102 and direct downloading of such content (if not already present) fromthe content store 116 to the connected interactive expert station at theretail outlet 100.

After the interactive expert session has run its course, the sessioncompletes during step 370. Thereafter, during step 370 the connection(of the connections 107) between the interactive expert station and theexpert studio is terminated. At step 380 the expert/studio thatcompleted the session notifies the expert queuing and matching component114 of the expert center 102 that the session with the interactiveexpert station has ended, and the expert/studio is added to thecorresponding expert queue maintained by the matching component 114(e.g., the status of the expert studio is changed to “standby/ready”).

It is noted in closing with regard to FIG. 3, that the above-describedsteps are merely illustrative of many possible ways in which toestablish, carry out, and terminate interactive expert sessions inaccordance with various embodiments of the present invention.

Turning to FIG. 4, a set of steps summarize an illustrative method fordownloading content for use by one of the stations 101 a-n during aninteractive expert session with one of the expert studios 106 a-x via aconnection separate from a connection supporting the station/studiosession. The steps in FIG. 4, occur during the session corresponding tostep 360 in FIG. 3. During step 400, an expert at one of the stations106 a-x makes content maintained by the expert server 102 available to acustomer at one of the interactive expert stations 101 a-n. Such accessis provided, for example, by selecting a “share content” control at theexpert's console after designating particular content (e.g., a shortvideo clip, a PDF document, etc.) maintained within the content store116. A message is transmitted via one of the connections 107 from theexpert studio to the connected interactive expert station during step410 instructing the expert station to display the shared content.

Upon receipt of the message from the expert studio, during step 420 theinteractive expert station initially searches its local store ofpreviously downloaded content to determine whether the content isalready present in its local store (e.g., hard disk) associated with theinteractive expert station. The local memory can be, for example on adedicated in-store processor unit or, alternatively, a shared in-storeprocessor (see FIG. 5, described herein below). If the shared content isnot currently in the local store of the interactive expert station, thencontrol passes to step 430. At step 430, the expert station issues arequest, identifying the shared content and optionally an authorizationkey originally provided by the expert during step 410, to the expertserver 102 via one of the connections 103. The connection thatfacilitates requesting and downloading the shared content from theexpert server 102's content store 116 is “on-demand” in nature, and doesnot generally persist beyond a period for downloading the requestedshared content. Thereafter, during step 440 the shared content isdownloaded from the expert server 102 to the interactive expert station.The content downloaded during step 440 is stored in a local contentcache maintained by the interactive expert station. The content thuspersists on the interactive expert station beyond the currentstation/studio session. Automated garbage collection utilities on theinteractive expert station purge stale content on an as-needed basis toensure room exists for new content downloads. After storing thedownloaded content in the local content cache, control passes to step450. During step 450, the interactive expert station presents/displaysthe shared content for the user. If, at step 420, the shared content isalready present in the local content cache of the interactive expertstation, then control passes directly from step 420 to step 450.

Having provided a functional description of the interactive expertsystem in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the presentinvention, attention is directed to FIG. 5 that schematically depicts ofan illustrative network arrangement for carrying out the functionalitydescribed with reference to FIGS. 1-4. Those skilled in the art willreadily appreciate that there are many network arrangements suitable forcarrying out the present invention. With reference to FIG. 5, theinteractive expert stations 501 a, 501 b, 501 c and 501 d, associatedwith retail outlets 500 a and 500 b, are communicatively coupled toin-store processors 510 a, 510 b, and 510 c. Expert stations 501 a and501 b are each coupled to dedicated in-store processors 510 a and 510 b.However, expert stations 501 c and 501 d are coupled to a sharedin-store processor 510 c via a wireless access point 520 b and networkswitch 530.

Wired/wireless connections are used alternatively according to the needsof particular retail outlet arrangements. In the case of the retailoutlet 500 a, each of the dedicated in-store processors 510 a and 510 bis connected to a wide-area network (e.g., Internet 550) via a wirelessaccess point 520 a. The wireless access point 520 a is connected to afirewall router 540 a that provides connectivity to the Internet 550. Inthe case of the retail outlet 500 b, the shared in-store processor 510 cis connected via a hardwire link to the switch 530. The switch 530 isconnected to a firewall router 540 b that provides connectivity to theInternet 550. It is noted that while the in-store processors 510 a, 510b, and 510 c are physically located in retail establishments in theillustrative example, in alternative embodiments, the in-storeprocessors may not even be needed and the interactive expert stationsare directly connected to an expert server and expert studios.

In the illustrative system arrangement depicted in FIG. 5, processingsystems that carry out the functionality of the expert server 102 resideon a local area network 555 that also houses processing hardware for oneor more expert studios. Local area network 555 is communicativelycoupled to the Internet 550 via a firewall router array 560. A locationand expert router system 565 carries out the functionality of thelocation map 110 and the location and expertise router 112. An expertqueue server array 570 carries out the expert queuing and matchingcomponent 114 of the expert server 102. A web server array 575implements the content store 116. While FIG. 5 depicts separate hardwarefor various expert server 102 functions and data, the functions and datacan be combined into a fewer number of processing nodes on the localarea network 555. Expert studios 580 represent additional nodes on thelocal area network 555. A second local area network 585, communicativelycoupled to the Internet 550 via a firewall router array 590, hosts asecond set of expert studios 595 in accordance with a multi-localearrangement of the type depicted in FIG. 2.

The structures, techniques, and benefits discussed above are merelyexemplary embodiments of the invention. In view of the many possibleembodiments to which the principles of this invention may be applied, itshould be recognized that the embodiments described herein with respectto the drawing figures are meant to be illustrative only and should notbe taken as limiting the scope of invention. For example, those of skillin the art will recognize that some elements of the illustratedembodiments shown in software may be implemented in hardware and viceversa or that the illustrated embodiments can be modified in arrangementand detail without departing from the spirit of the invention. Moreover,those of skill in the art will recognize that the disclosed principlesare not limited to any particular local area network protocols and/ortopologies. Therefore, the invention as described herein contemplatesall such embodiments as may come within the scope of the followingclaims and equivalents thereof.

1. An interactive expert system for facilitating interactive sessionsbetween customers and experts based upon particular expertisedesignations assigned to particular ones of the experts, the systemcomprising: a set of interactive expert stations, each interactiveexpert station being associated with a current location; a set of expertstudios providing expertise in potentially many different categories,each expert studio including an associated expertise; and an expertserver for matching requests from the interactive expert stations toones of the expert studios based upon a type of needed expertise, theexpert server comprising: mapping information associating, with regardto the set of interactive expert stations, a current location with atype of expertise provided by one or more of the set of expert studios;a matching component for pairing a query from a requesting expertstation of the set of interactive expert stations to an available expertstudio of the set of expert studios based, at least in-part, upon thetype of expertise associated with the current location of the requestingexpert station, and thereafter initiating establishing a primaryconnection between the requesting expert station and the availableexpert studio.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the expert serverfurther comprises: a listing of currently available expert studios andassociated expertise.
 3. The system of claim 2 wherein the listing ofcurrently available expert studios and associated expertise comprises aset of expert queues arranged, at least in part, based upon expertise ofexpert studios placed within particular ones of the queues.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the associated current location corresponds toa physical location.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the associatedcurrent location corresponds to a logical location.
 6. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the expert studios comprise products in a simulatedsales outlet environment corresponding to a particular type of expertstation for which expertise is provided.
 7. The system of claim 1wherein the matching component further refines a search for theavailable expert studio based upon additional properties provided for aparticular customer that initiated the query from the requesting expertstation.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the requesting expert stationand the available expert studio include videoconference equipment. 9.The system of claim 1 further comprising a centralized content store,and wherein the requesting expert station comprises a network interfacesupporting a secondary connection, distinct from the primary connection,for downloading shared content from a remote content store during aninteractive expert session supported by the primary connection.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9 wherein the requesting expert station includes a localcontent cache for storing shared content downloaded via the secondaryconnection, and wherein the local cache persists the downloaded sharedcontent across multiple sessions.
 11. A method for establishing andsupporting interactive sessions between customers and experts in aninteractive expert system comprising a set of interactive expertstations, a set of expert studios providing expertise in potentiallymany different categories, and an expert server for assigning requestsfrom the interactive expert stations to available ones of the set ofexpert studios based upon particular expertise designations ofparticular ones of the expert studios, the method comprising the steps:associating each interactive expert station with a current location;associating each expert studio with an expertise; associating, withregard to the set of interactive expert stations, a current location anda type of expertise provided by one or more of the set of expertstudios; receiving, by the expert server, a query for expertise from arequesting expert station of the set of interactive expert stations, andin response performing the further steps of: pairing the query to anavailable expert studio of the set of expert studios based, at leastin-part, upon the type of expertise associated with the current locationof the requesting expert station, and initiating establishing a primaryconnection between the requesting expert station and the availableexpert studio.
 12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the stepof: maintaining, by the expert server, a listing of currently availableexpert studios and associated expertise.
 13. The method of claim 12wherein the listing of currently available expert studios and associatedexpertise comprises a set of expert queues arranged, at least in part,based upon expertise of expert studios placed within particular ones ofthe queues.
 14. The method of claim 11 wherein the expert studioscomprise products in a simulated sales outlet environment correspondingto a particular type of expert station for which expertise is provided.15. The system of claim 1 wherein the matching component further refinesa search for the available expert studio based upon additionalproperties provided for a particular customer that initiated the queryfrom the requesting expert station.
 16. The method of claim 11 whereinthe requesting expert station and the available expert studio includevideoconference equipment and wherein the primary connection supports avideoconference session between the requesting expert station and theavailable expert studio.
 17. The method of claim 11 further comprising:maintaining a centralized content store; and establishing a secondaryconnection, via a network interface on the requesting expert station,distinct from the primary connection, for downloading shared contentfrom a remote content store during an interactive expert sessionsupported by the primary connection.
 18. The method of claim 9 whereinthe requesting expert station includes a local content cache, furthercomprising: storing, within the local content cache, shared contentdownloaded via the secondary connection; and persisting the downloadedshared content, within the local content cache, across multiplesessions.
 19. An interactive expert system for facilitating interactivesessions between customers and experts supporting on-demand downloadingof shared content, the system comprising: an interactive expert station;an expert studio for providing live interactive expertise to theinteractive expert station via a primary connection supporting avideoconference session between the interactive expert station and theexpert studio; a centralized content store including shared contentavailable for download to the interactive expert station via a secondaryconnection, distinct from the primary connection, in accordance with adirection issued from the interactive expert station to the expertstudio during the videoconference session.
 20. The system of claim 19wherein the interactive expert station includes a local content cachefor storing shared content downloaded via the secondary connection, andwherein the local cache persists the downloaded shared content acrossmultiple sessions.